Problems with my "98 vr4 galant

[Kimjongkony]

So heres the problem folks, yesterday i was driving out the the beach (windy fun roads) and driving it pretty hard i would say and all the while blasting music with my recently installed sub.
it lasted all the way back home ( there and back is around 1.5hrs) and was fine the whole way. when i took the car out later in the day after coming home it just randomly stopped working at
an intersection, didnt even roughly idl;e before going out and it was so subtle that i didnt even notice until i tryuied to accelerate and nothing happened. All of my dash lights were working but
i had to turn it off and wait around a minute before i could start it again. when it did start i noticed something i hadnt noticed before that was that the music was alot quieter even tho it was at the
same volume. This "break down" happened a few more times throughout the trip and was really frustrating. thing is, i have a brand new batter (2 weeks old) and a brand new alternator (3 weeks old)
so unless i was listening to the music so loud that it discharged the battery which is possible i guess, what i dont understand is that last night i charged up the battery using a charger at home and it happened at
an intersection today as well. I notice that when it goes out, my traction control light comes on first, then my power steering goes out and sometimes but not always, my power braking goes out as well.
Please help me out as im hoping its just a classic "charge the battery" problem and not something major.

[Nick Mann]

The steering is driven by a pump which is always running when the engine is. The pump can fail but it would stay failed. So if your power steering is going off then your belt is loose or your engine is stopped.
The brakes are vacuum assisted. If you are losing the power brakes then you have no vacuum. Pipe split or engine off?

[Kimjongkony]

that makes sense as i instantly lose engine power and those things fail... but i feel like theres been a couple times in which everything except for my brakes have failed

[Kimjongkony]

any ideas on what could be causing engine to cut out?

[Confused]

There's enough vacuum in the brake system for 1-2 presses of the brake pedal once the engine has died.


I would try driving without the stereo turned on - this will 1) allow to actually hear what's going on, and 2) remove a potential drain from the battery, if it is that.

[Kimjongkony]

Steering is much harder when drivibg normally and then it cuts out and engine goes off, cant hear or think of any obvious reason as to why this happens, if you have any more advice please share haha

[Kimjongkony]

Weird thing is, steering gets alot harder when brake is depressed, maybe power is getting cut to one when the other is being used?

[orionn2o]

I would agree with Garry. Since the sub is the new addition I would drive without the music and see if the same happens. In addition I assume (perhaps incorrectly) that the sub is accompanied by an amp which I guess has been wired to the battery!

Check your battery connections are solid too! The strange happenings could just be voltage related!

When i had a bad battery , all kinds of crazy things happened to the car!

[Kimjongkony]

yeah, did that today and the same happened, im thinking of disconnecting the sub and seeing if all goes well, but it has been working fine with the sub for the past 2 weeks?
today it cut when i was at aroun 2.2k rpm going uphill, ive noticed my steering randomly gets harder to move for less then a second then quickly normalizes again and
the same on and off. seems to be more obvious while i am braking.

[Confused]

There is a vacuum-based adjustment of the power steering.

I would carefully check ALL vacuum pipes under the bonnet - as well as the belts that drives the power steering and alternator.

[Kimjongkony]

i think its probably the fuel pump now that i think about ti, ive smelt the smell of fuel in my car before and these random cuts make me think the pump might be faulty

[Kimjongkony]

and thanks mate, will do